PC INFO

Monday

Oct 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 27, 2008 at 6:00 PM

By SCOTT A. MAY

Last week, we examined the volatility of data burned to optical discs, concluding that CDs or DVDs might not be as ideal for long-term storage as previously thought. Because the loss of data integrity is caused by physical limitations of the media itself, one solution is to go virtual.

The average cost of an internal hard drive now runs about 15 cents per gigabyte, which translates to a lot of storage bang for your buck. As technology improves, hard drive prices go down, and storage capacities go up. That's a win-win by anyone's standards and all the more reason to consider using hard drives for archiving data previously stored on optical disc.

Now you just need a way to transfer a stack of discs onto your hard drive. One of the most efficient ways to capture the entire contents of a CD, DVD or Blu-ray data disc - whether commercial quality or homemade - is to turn it into a single ISO disc image file. Once converted, this file can be stored and organized on your hard drive, perhaps used at a later time to burn another disc.

Another cool thing you can do with ISO files is using them on your computer as virtual discs, mounted in a virtual CD/DVD drive. Because virtual drives exist only in your computer's virtual memory, their performance is as much as 200 times faster than a real optical drive.

There are plenty of programs available for creating and burning ISO disc images, but my favorite is Alcohol 120% from Alcohol Soft. This software does it all - from image file creation and disc burning to virtual drive emulation.

The program can mount as many as 31 virtual optical drives on your system - not 100 as previously reported. Beyond the program's default Media Descriptor file format, each virtual drives can mount disc image files stored in any of the following popular formats: .ccd/.img/.sub from CloneCD; .cue/.bin, from CDRWIN; .iso, the industry standard; .bwt/.bwi/.bws, from Blindread; .cdi, from DiscJuggler; .nrg, from Nero Burning ROM; .pdi, from Instant CD/DVD; .b5t/.b5i, from Blindwrite v5; .b6t/.b6i from Blindwrite v6; and .isz, from UltraISO.

In addition to its ability to create and burn image files, Alcohol 120% features a copy tool for creating archival backups of original discs. Included is the option to bypass certain copy prevention schemes, such as SafeDisc, SecuROM and Data Position Measurement. Finally, the program can create images from PlayStation and PlayStation 2 discs.

Using a program such as Alcohol 120%, you can rid your desktop of frequently used discs, retaining complete functionality, while reducing wear and tear on the fragile media. You'll also enjoy increased speed and reliability using image files mounted to a virtual drive, while prolonging the life of your physical optical drive.

Alcohol 120% retails for $45, but if you don't care about burning discs, or already have that task covered, consider downloading the more basic Alcohol 52%, which leaves out the burning engine while still allowing you to create image files but limits you to only six virtual drives. This version retails for $27. There's also a free version of Alcohol 52%. Download free trials at www.alcohol-soft.com.

Another free virtual drive application is Phantom CD, available for download at www.phantombility.com. The program is limited to a single virtual drive that can only read .iso, .cue/.bin, or .vdd image files, but it's free and works well. For about $30, you can upgrade to Phantom Burner but will still need image creation software.

Don't get me wrong, hard drives can certainly go bad. That said, it's a lot faster and cheaper to clone a hard drive than to burn hundreds of replacement discs, and even that's easier to do with Alcohol 120%.

Scott A. May is a local freelance writer who has been published in Home Office Computing and other technology publications. He is owner of Columbia-based CompuSoft Consulting, specializing in home and small office tech support. Reach him at sam@csc-pc.com.

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